Retratos de uma Guerra

It's really important to understand the atrocities and oppression of the Russian government over Eastern Europeans. This film takes place during World War II but even under the Tsar/Czar in the late 1800's and early 1900's, Russia was trying to erase Lithuanian and other conquered cultures with such things as Banning the local language and books.

This film shows us that the Russians were not much better than the Nazis when it came to concentration/labor camps. Without spoilers, it's heartbreaking and horrible what they did to millions of people from the 1930s to the 1950s. I have Lithuanian family who were deported to Siberia and not released for 15 years! Watching this you will understand what they say and so many went through.

Film was not a big-budget, multi continent blockbuster. But it was entertaining, and enjoyable, and achieved its objective. Overall well written, good screenplay, well edited. Captured the narrative (I assume that) they wanted us to have. Would I watch it again? I doubt it. Would I recommend it, maybe not recommend it, but if someone wanted to watch something in this class I would definitely suggest it. Full credit to all involved, if you are not sure if you want to watch it you should, they did it very well

Such a hard topic and they really didn't show us anything...wish they would make a better story.

It's a good movie about the Soviet invasion of Lithuania; the plot is good and the acting is decent; it is recommended.

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. Switching on subtitles during key scenes was nice, some of the mumbling with an accent was hard to understand.

This story is "inspired" by real events which means it is a fictional story representative of what happened back then, the 1940s, when Stalin's USSR was invading Eastern European countries and labeling residents as enemies, gathering them up and sending them to harsh labor camps. This story focuses on Lithuanians.

Bel Powley is the main focus, even though the actress was 25 or 26, she plays 16-yr-old Lina who has a knack for art - drawing, painting, these types of art. She is self-taught but her father hopes to get her admission to a formal art school. Right then, just after she receives her acceptance letter, is when her family and many others are forced into trucks then trains and shipped off to labor camps.

Of course part of the movie is to show how brutal the Soviets were but the main part is to show how people can work to maintain their dignity in such trying times. Interestingly, in the credits are a long list of "extras" who had ties to ancestors who had been imprisoned and mistreated during those times.

Good movie although hard to watch at times.